ZOIA HORN LIBRARIAN, ACTIVIST, AND DEFENDER OF INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
ZOIA WAS BORN IN 1918 IN ODESSA, UKRAINE. WHEN SHE WAS 8, HER FAMILY IMMIGRATED TO NORTH AMERICA - FIRST CANADA AND THEN SETTLING IN NEW YORK CITY.
In New York, she discovered libraries through her mother who frequented Seward Park Library due to their large number of Russian books. A librarian Zoia met there would influence her later in choosing her profession.
"THAT LIBRARIAN CARED. SHE KNEW WHAT PEOPLE NEEDED, AND SHE SHARED HER KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE." -ZOIA! PG.17
A TREASURE HUNT ZOIA STUDIED LIBRARY SCIENCE AT THE PRATT INSTITUTE IN NEW YORK CITY.
She loved the joy in searching for information, likening it to a treasure hunt.
ACTIVISM
From the beginning of her career, Zoia was involved in social justice work in libraries. She was active in a number of library organizations and vocal about resisting sexism, racism, homophobia, and censorship.
"I began to believe that when education is denied people, as it was during slavery, when teaching a slave to read was often a punishable crime, when people's existence and contributions to society are omitted from human record, censorship is at work. It is censorship by omission." - Zoia! pg. 112
THE HARRISBURG SEVEN
In January 1971, after being hired as the head of the reference department at Bucknell University in Harrisburg, PA,, two FBI agents showed up at Zoia's home. When they asked her to look at photos and evidence, she refused.
The FBI were investigating a presumed conspiracy plot surrounding Phillip Berrigan, a Roman Catholic priest jailed for burning draft papers. He and six others were believed to be involved in a plot to kidnap Henry Kissinger, advisor to President Nixon.
THE TRIAL Zoia had worked with peace activists at the library and been led to host a meeting with Berrigan's friends by a library assistant (who was an FBI informant).
She was subpoenaed by the court to testify but refused based on her professional rights of privacy and intellectual freedom.
Because she refused to testify, Zoia was imprisoned for twenty days until the court case was dropped. She was the first U.S. librarian to jailed for refusing to violate her professional priciples.
"Like it or not, we are not neutral in our libraries. Our collections, our clientele, and our services reflect leanings and biases. An open, honest advocacy can be combined with provision of information on may sides of a question." Zoia! pg 182
ZOIA AND THE ALA
After the court case, Zoia struggled to find work in public and university libraries.
She remained active in library organizations and vocal about social issues. She was elected the the ALA Council in 1974 and was appointed to the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee in 1977, of which she later served as chair,
She continued to advocate for the ALA's involvement and deeper understanding of censorship, from calling for the ALA to not support the film The Speaker, working with other librarians such as Sandy Berman, fighting against library fees, and protesting the Patriot Act.
Zoia Horn passed away in 2014 at the age of 96.
Today, she is remembered for her dedication to library activism. The Intellectual Freedom Committee of the California Library Association annually awards an honor in her name for those who continue to fight censorship.
Sources Horn, A. (1995). Zoia!: Memoirs of Zoia Horn, Battler of the People's Right to Know. McFarland & Company.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060903015902/http://lsa.uoregon.edu/newsletter05/050 8news.html
https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=library-freedom-fighter-zoia-horn- remembered
https://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Zoia-Horn-1st-U-S-librarian-jailed-over-alleged- 5624023.php